Gaming’s blockchain revolution: tokenization, esports, collectables, and cryptocurrency
Two distinctive categories, namely gaming, and blockchain, seem to collide shortly, which is believed to cause fundamental swings in various sectors. Read on to get acquainted with the most noticeable ways through which the so-called distributed ledger is changing the gaming industry.
Flexibility in Use
Overall, playing seems to be above the notions of being fun and engaging. The broader paradigm of gaming, which emphasizes the opportunities, provides a field for experiments of new ideas, is now setting trends for both the gaming industry and blockchain initiatives.
They may also be educative. Some well-designed and adequately developed titles force players to adapt to the renewed or re-invented paradigms. A certain correlation stands out, so that modern technologies and contemporary playing change each other, whereas the most iconic example relates to the high-speed Internet, coupled with exponentially enhancing demands of the online audiences.
Blockchain appears to be no exception to this correlation since many related elements can be found in both the blockchain and gaming. Since a wide range of innovations pertaining to blockchain stress tokens, the video game developers adopt similar standards to apply tokens as the unique assets, at the same time, creating markets for trade of this currency.
Some blockchain-related fundraises even focus on token pre-sales, which allow teams to finance both the new projects and existing esports teams. For some blockchain networks that support decentralized applications, the most user count and transaction volumes are generated by these amusement options.
Although the modern-time new over the merger of blockchain and video games revolves around indie projects and startups, triple-A developers also announced their plans to support these initiatives, including Epic, Ubisoft, and Atari.
Fundraising with Tokens
The newest blockchain technologies operate on the Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs), which work somewhat similar to IPOs fundraising possibilities. Individuals who demand to assist the project may purchase a token prior to the release of the project, which is often promoted with some unique features received in the future. However, a wide variety of regulatory agencies have already placed severe restrictions on ICOs, which lately were full of scam initiatives. Some companies have adopted the answer for this by inventing the so-called utility token, which may be exchanged for a specific good of a company.
The model seems to be working decently for the operational capacity of numerous studios since the pre-sell game assets from future projects or expansions are already in high demand in the industry. Fuel Games, for instance, received enough support from the investors such as Coinbase in their path in the direction of the fundraising. Overall, the organization raised more than 4600 ETH in 2018 for the ambitious project of their blockchain-provided trading card game with a title Gods Unchained. Peculiarly, this video game title is worth over 1.3$ million at the time.
Tokenizing Process: Crypto Collectibles
The video game industry is commonly provided with a single application of blockchain technology for tokens, which relies upon the pre-sale game assets. The most prominent title of this era is the infamous Crypto Kitties.
In the formal sense, this title may not be characterized as a game, yet the possibility of collecting uniquely ERC-721 randomized cats, the players receive a genuinely engaging gameplay experience.
Since such tokens are used to represent tokens in a wide range of other games, dApps stand out to be a part of the separate class of games called crypto collectibles.
Esports Betting
What is genuinely embraced in relation to video games is the application of the e-currency in the esports. Emerging as a small-scale bunch of projects, esports betting sites and their respective esports scenes now worth billions of dollars.
Even though the example of a 16-year-old Pennsylvanian youngster who won a total of $3 million for finishing first at the Fortnite World Cup is convincing by itself, kindly remember that this prize was bigger than Tiger Woods acclaimed for his fifteenth title in the Masters’ golf championship.
Hence, the emerging startups, such as Unikrn esports betting token Unikoin, has been capitalized for approximately $3 million. Another remarkable example is the esports platform called Dream Team with its own token, which received nearly $1 million in capitalization lately.
Games and dApps
Numerous video game titles, especially those who tokenize their in-game assets, still use common blockchain applications in their platforms. So, game designers use blockchain services as the marketplace for digital goods, whereas the game itself maintains on track while being on the traditional server. A few games have invented rather a unique approach of running merely on the blockchain virtual machine, which is now associated with the name of the dApps.
In case you’re unaware of the decentralized apps, try visiting dApp Radar, which collects games in the categories of crypto collectibles, gambling dApps, and games. These games account for a total of 60 percent of all currently operating dApps titles.
Big Names?
Atari, an iconic developer, launched its Atari Token, which will be used in the partnership with Animoca Brands to make the blockchain versions of RollerCoaster Tycoon and Goon Squad.
As revealed by the CEO of Atari Game Partners Fred Chesnais, blockchain technologies are believed to be crucial determinants for the evolution of the economic ecosystem in games and the independent field of the online transactions. He follows by underlining that the technological strengths of the company make Atari attractive for the investors so that the company would be engaged in taking strategic positions in terms of assets optimization, limited cash risks, and the development of the Atari Brand.
As for Epic Games, which is the developer of iconic Unreal engine and exceptionally popular Fortnite, their partnership with The Abyss seems to be promising. The Abyss is a blockchain distribution platform, which aims to compete with Epic’s rivalries in the form of Unity and the Kin SDK. Both of the competitors have signed similar partnerships and adapted their engines for the support of the blockchain in their respective ecosystems.
Ubisoft is the fourth-largest company that currently develops and designs some play features on the basis of the Ethereum blockchain.
Long-Term Perspective
Indisputably, this article may not cover the fullness of the topic and all related events pertaining to the merger of blockchain technology and video gaming. However, it’s still too early to suggest that blockchain technology would be a groundbreaking trend since the cooperations just appear. The only feature that represents ambitious results in terms of the future of blockchain technologies is the volume of activity in the industry. With regards to the numbers, the gaming industry will become one of the most relevant and important matters for the upcoming blockchain and cryptocurrency breakthroughs.
